Wizcrafts

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You are probably unaware of the OP's location, because he has not listed it in his profile. The machine prices you posted are in US dollars, but our new member lives in the Philippines. Our money and prices don't apply there.

It has to also have an oil pump to be totally self oiling. The pump would be on the bottom and would sit inside a gasket-sealed oil pan. Unless there is a pump somewhere and an oil pickup and filter on the bottom, it is manually oiled. The wicks would distribute oil you squirt into certain holes and reservoirs.

Since servo motors can and do fail, it is important to buy them from a dealer who will send a replacement out if a failure occurs within the warranty period. Some dealers may wait until they receive your motor (and confirm the defect to get their credit) before agreeing to ship a replacement to you. This leads to down time on your part. So, choose to buy from a supplier who will use phone or video confirmation and ship you a replacement with a return label in the box. If you are close to the dealer, picking up and dropping off motors is much simpler and a no-brainer. Price doesn't enter into it once you get a year or two of real use on a good motor. Go for quality and replacement policy.

Your needle and thread combination is perfect for thicknesses between 7 - 10 ounces. I sew suede lined rifle slings and guitar straps that are within those thicknesses with the same needle and thread combo, using a CB4500 or Cobra Class 4. You can tighten the knots by using a #22 needle. For anything between 5 and 7 ounces I would use #92 thread and a #20 needle. It is much easier to bury the knots with #92 (T90) thread. As regards the top tensioners, you should be able to pull the top thread out through the needle and raised feet little to no effort, with the feet lifted all the way up (via the ball handle lifter or foot lifter). If the top disks do not separate with the lifter engaged, the crank with the slot along the bottom may have come out of the little round peg that causes the crank to push up between the disks.

Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines sells bobbins, needles, thread and all manner of accessories for all types of industrial sewing equipment. I even buy my sewing machine Lily oil there.

From your recent photos, your machine is manually oiled. All of the holes with red dye need oil, as well as some that have lost the red dye. Oil after each use and place a cheap rag under the feet to absorb dripping oil. Put a rag on top of the foot pedal until your oil pan is constructed. Use white Lily oil sold by industrial sewing machine dealers (in quarts and refillable 4oz bottles). In an emergency you can buy 4 oz bottles of sewing machine oil at Joann's, Hobby Lobby, or Wally World.

I currently only have 6 fully operating industrial sewing machines in my shop. Additionally, there is a Singer 111w103 head being rebuilt a little at a time (it will share the table with the 31-15). I also have a blind stitcher and a serger, as I do garment repairs and hemming. I rebuild and sell old domestic Singer sewing machines and occasionally pull one off the rack to sew linings, or demo the machine. I still need more machines! I could really use a post machine and curse time and space every time a job comes in that could use one.

When I acquired a 31-15 and table that lacked an oil drip pan, I made one out of Naugahyde and stapled it to the edges of the cutout in the table. I cut a hole for the knee lever lifter. The material side faces up and absorbs oil.

Oops. I was thinking about a National 280 that was in the shop I used to work in. It had dual feed and tore up veg-tan leather.

Be like me and buy more machines as the need arises. Toledo Industrial loves me. My shop is polluted with industrial sewing machines, sewing everything from the lightest cloth up to 7/8 inch thick holsters. Each machine is threaded with different sizes of thread.

There are some gigantic differences. One difference is that the CB105 machine you asked about is single feed, via aggressive feed dogs. You will have to rub out the tooth marks after sewing. It has a static presser foot to hold down the material as the needle does it work. Second, there is no Cowboy CB105 in the US market. Third, if you buy that machine, you'll have to pay for shipping from Australia. Fourth, the machine in the ad is a Keestar, not a Cowboy. Cowboy USA does offer a similar machine, branded the CB2500, which is imported, setup, adjusted, sold and serviced by Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. It has bottom feed only, but does offer a roller foot instead of the flat presser foot. The range of thread is from #138 through #346. It uses an odd needle system, Type 328, which is longer than a walking foot but shorter than the 441 clones.

Bob sells all manner of walking foot machines. But, most of them are designed to sew upholstery leather with thread sizes not exceeding #138 (T135). Furthermore, they don't usually sew over 3/8" (24 oz) and some max out at 5/16" (20 oz). Right now your package seems to be at 18 ounces, plus or minus and few ounces. This thickness deserves to be sewn with at least #207 bonded thread, or even 277 on top, for a bold appearance. The CB3200 can do that. A standard walking foot machine can't. As a reference, it looks like you are hand sewing with thread that is over a half millimeter in diameter. That is about the diameter of #277 bonded thread. You would use a #25 needle to sew with #277 on top and in the bobbin. That is where the 3200 comes into its own. And the smooth feed dog won't leave tooth marks on the bottom layer.

That roller foot machine will be useful if you make decorative stitched boots, or leather vests, or chaps. It can also edge stitch medium temper belts, using #69 bonded nylon thread (possibly up to #92, depending on the nature of the shuttle mechanism). However, it may not be as useful for sewing cloth as a model that has a standard foot and multi-row feed dog.

M size pre-wound bobbins are sold in a wide range of colors and thread types for modern long arm quilting machines. But, I would still wind my own for bonded nylon thread in sizes 69, 92 and 138.

Pre-wounds will work fine as long as you can get the sizes and colors you need on the bottom. Otherwise, buy a dozen M bobbins and wind your own colors and sizes. The machine will handle thread sizes up to #138. The 280 types are dual feed machines, with teeth on the moving presser and feed dog and on the static (vertical motion only) inside foot. The needle is also static and moves up and down. This is okay for upholstery leather, cloth, webbing and Naugahyde, but not veg-tan or bridle leather.

No. The needle hole would be ~5mm too far to the left of the needle.

Jimi; I finally remembered to measure the length of my gearboxes on my 29k71 and 29k172. The small bobbin k71 gearbox measures 190mm, while the 172 large bobbin model measures 200mm. The large gearbox is about 28mm wide at the widest part of the shuttle hole, while the k71 is just 25mm wide. I hope this helps.

Post an ad for these machines in our Marketplace, under Sewing Equipment > Used.

Try Consew USA itself. Here is their Contact page.

I got the missing Singer lock screw and installed it a long time ago. It is a thumb screw, similar to the ones used to screw on edge guides onto flat bed machines.

Jimi; I will try to remember to measure the length of the gearbox on my 29k172 when I go to work on Monday. Mine has a large bobbin. The T-bar on top is called a darning attachment because it causes the foot to stay up over the leather as you sew. The knuckle where the needle bar is mounted to the moving take-up barrel hits the T-bar if the arm is rotated so it faces the knuckle. This lets you move the work for whatever stitch length of pattern you want. I use it to criss-cross over torn seams on leather goods in for repairs. Sewing across to mend a tear in something is/was called "darning." In the old days, during the depression, Moms would darn holes in socks rather than buying new ones. The modern equivalent would be a wide zig-zag stitch. Note that my darning attachment has two positions. The half cut section just clears the leather, while the full bar lifts the foot all the way up. In fact, it releases the thread tension at the top of the stroke. So, I prefer the half lift position. Rotating it away from the mechanism restores normal operation.

Here's my 29k172. It is the same as the 171, but with a long arm. Note that my machine has a darning attachment on top.

I agree. However, this thread was not totally useless. It demonstrates the futility of trying to answer existential or theoretical questions about industrial sewing machines that are basically chunks of metal built for specific tasks. To make matters worse, the machines we use to sew leather are big, clunky beasts. Nothing beats hands on experience and actual use and experimentation. Seeing as how we have explored every nuance of the whys and wherefores of this strange topic, I am closing it. It was both frustrating and fun at times.

Correct Uwe. The 31-15 is just a bottom feeder. I have one in my leather shop in Burton, Mi. It is not able to use thread sizes over #69 though. I use it mostly with serger thread spools for tailoring and alteration jobs on light cloth. A 78-1 would be an interesting machine for a shop that does a wide variety of work, like we do at R&W.